CMA Civic Kids October Project: Unusual Upcycled Planters

Creating unique planters from recyclables is so much fun, especially when your kids get to open a flower shop with them!

We've joined the CMA Civic Kids Movement which aims to bring communities together through creativity. When invited to take part, I had to say yes simply because I agree so much with the morals of the movement- Make Art, Make a Difference. There will be a year-long series of exhibitions, community events, and digital art calls hosted by Children's Museum of the Arts in New York City. Each month there is a different theme and a different project posted on the website. October's theme is environmentalism and this DIY upcycled planters project is so much fun!

We decided to put a creative play twist on this project, and made our planters for a role play fake flower shop!

What you need:

- recyclables (we used tin cans but it can be water bottles, cartons, containers etc.)

- white acrylic paint

- paint brushes

- nail and hammer (if planting seeds)

- selection of Kwik Stix tempera paint sticks and decorations (we used dot stickers, star stickers, and googly eyes)

- potting soil

- fake flowers (of course you can also use seeds and watch them grow!)

Step 1: Prepare the Planters

This simply involves giving them a thorough wash, using the nail and hammer to add three drainage holes on the bottom (we didn't do this at first because we used the planters for pretend flower play), and painting them white. This makes the planters a blank canvas for your kids!

Step 2: Get Decorating!

Here comes the fun! Set out the white planters, a selection of paints and stickers, some brushes, and let your kids get creative!

Both my kids could not wait to get hands on with all the fun materials! They loved working on a novel tin canvas!

Using Kwik Stix made life much easier as they are pretty much mess free and dry in 90 seconds! Baby sister also loved getting to add so many stickers to her planters!

Of course there were moments where I was tempted to intervene and give guidance to both my kids, but I tried really hard to let them have complete creative control. I could tell they really enjoyed the freedom to create independently!

Once the planters were decorated, it was time to open the flower shop (my kids were soooo excited!). They carefully filled their planters with soil- a great sensory, fine motor and gross motor activity.

Then I snipped up the fake flower bouquets and they had a blast arranging the flowers in their planters. You should have heard the color matching discussions with my 5 year old son!

The great thing about using these fake flowers is that it presented such a fun way to make their artwork hands on and practical. They had such a sense of pride and ownership as they filled the planters and presented them at the end!

The planters are now proudly displayed on our fireplace ledge and I know we will be re-arranging the bouquets on a regular basis! In the future we will also plant some seeds and watch them grow.

Would your kids love this project too? Please head to the Children's Museum of the Arts in New York City website and see how you can join in with the DIY upcycled planters project. Make Art, Make a Difference!